OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – U.S. Walker Cup captain Spider Miller understands the magnitude of the decision that looms this week.
He experienced it 18 years ago.
Miller won the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1996, but he was left off the Walker Cup squad when the team was announced the following year. Worse, he was named the first alternate – or, viewed another way, he was the first man left off – for the matches at Quaker Ridge.
“That’s the worst call you can get,” he said Tuesday while strolling around Olympia Fields. “That’s what I told the USGA selection committee.